Method of increasing head.



W. M. WHITE.

METHOD OF INCREASING HEAD.

APPLICATION FILED NM). 913. 1,273,558. Patented July 23,1918.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

W. M. WHITE.

METHOD OF INCREASING HEAD.

nvucmou mmauuus. m3.

1 ,27 3,558. Patented July 23, 191

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED STATES} OFFICE.

METHOD OF INCREASING HEAD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 23. 1 918.

Aw'ltcatton filed June 19, 1913. serial No. 774,528.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM M. VVin'rE, u citizen of the-United States, residing at Illilwaukce, in the countyof Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented'certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of maximum efliciency under the era s me or all ofthe apparatus of such tl ppl i rations being adapted for use; in carry ng out the methods herein claimed. j

A serious objection to the deifelo merit of low waterfalls isthe high costo the ma- (-hinery and plant-as related to the produc live capacity theleof. It is well known that the speed of a turbine ries as the square root of the head under which it is operating.- lhorefore under a low head the speed of tho turbine is slow, requiring great size for the development of n giyengpower. It s nlso well known that the cost of generators varies a proxunately inversely with their bus the largetnrblne at max mum speed. eflici nh y and low speed generator necessary forthe development of a low head will cost very much morethanapparatus for, the pro duction of the some a high head.

It ispossibl'e under my method herein d18- closed to secure an'efiective head practically- :is great as desired, at the. expense ofan increased volume of water.

Myfinvention contemplates, first the passing 0 V a water wheel gre'aterthan that required i able fall, of the 1 and utilizing some or all kinetic energy in the water flowing rough the amount of power under an excess quantity. of WateL-throufgh or wheel to maintain a lower pressure in the draft chamber than is customary and thus 4 increase the effective head of water acting on the wheel andsecondas a specific means of accom lisbmg the above result'operating the whee at'a greatere eed than that required'for maximum e ciency to create a whirling body of water at the discharge end of the wheel and changing velocity head of said whirling we." umbo pressure head and thus increase the "3 active head of water on the wheel. The action of producin a flow through an orifice or opening, suc as the opening between the vanes of a water wheel {greater than could bc,cnused by the norms iendacting thereon, by joining with said orifice n regaining conduit of increasing capncity in the directionof flow is explained on pages 186, 187 mid ice of Treatise on H g dmu lics by Merrirnan, edition 1-903, and a statement is made-abthe top of *page188 :to the efiect then the flow through the'orifice of theregaining section was, that due to a head five times ireater than the actual head. Experiments w ich I have made. give results comparable to those recitedabove. In carrying the method into effect I plaeethe water wheel at the orifice mentioned above so that. the discharge water will flow through the orifice and into the regainiiii 'z'section of -incren s1ng capacityin thefiirection oi flow. In thisivay a portionofirthe energy of the water'- flownig throu 11 ;'thb' ;tl1rb1ne will be utilized by t e whee for thepmduction of powefand the remaining poltion' will be utilized inthe mngainin device or devices to increase. thee .ective eadv'actin turbine. The increased head -wil depend upon the amount of, el'lergfi whichhaspassed by the-tin inc which, due to the action-of the -regainr alcove described, creates a lower. pressure-in the draft chamber than if such device were not e and: this causes agreater-dischargeo water through .the orifice'or-the dischar end of the turbine than otherwise weal obtain, whereby the ellectwe'headjofffialer actixg on and thespeed oi the tu'libii'ieisincreas under the available fall. Y i

U The dwicerecorded by Men-imam, re-

on the in the water loyed i a straight axis regaining tube, as described which will by Merriman. Another form also accom lish the ur rise of my invention is hereina ,ter speciEc-a ly described.

It is manifest that a portion of the head of an fall when utilized in the device above described will maintain the same relative properties of transformation and will accordingly maintain a ,lower pressure at the constrictedportion of the device than at the discharge and thus increase the effective head upon the wheel.

The action of increasing head will be more readily understood by the use of a concrete example: a

Let us-assume that the passages of the water wheel are so related in connection with a passage of increasing capacity in the direction .of flow or in connection with the devices herein more specifically described, so that the amount of energ carried b water discharged from the water whee runnor will be'1'50% of the energy of that'quantity of water which would flow 'under an unmodified head equal to the fall would have anddischarge this energy into the small end of such passage of increasing capacity 11 1 thedire/ctionv of, ow, asmentioned.

Assume that the area of the discharge end of said passage of increasin capacity 111 the direction 'offflowis su'ch t at the velocity theretlirough contains only 3% of the energy due, to, the fall, thus leavin 147% of the enter of that quantity 0 water which wou flow underfan unmodified head due to'the fall would have to be'ccnverted {rem velocity into pressure ithin said passa es. the b s of an cfll'ciency of ODIIYBISlOh of 80% for said passage the pressure-at the smaller and ",i-Said passage, or in other words, at the discharge of the runner which is connected to the small and of said passage, will be 8 0i 147% 6r 117- 5% of the pressure due tothe fall less than the pressure at the discharge end of the passage, but the discharge and of said passa communicates with the tailrace to thesur. ace of which the fall is measured, so that the head acting. on

the water wheel to times the an. t a L When theeflicien'cy of conversion is 80% the energy lost is, cons uently, 20% ofv the energy entering the smal er ends of said passages minus'the energy discharged from said passages, or .20 times 147 or 29.4% of the energy due to the fall is wasted maintaining a headon the water wheel of 2.17 times the fall,

the

cause flow thereto $2.175

The increased head acting on the water wheel is useful in maintaining a greater speed for given conditions ofpower and fall than has heretofore been obtained.

In these specifications the term fall is taken to mean the difference in elevation between the surface of he water above the dam and the surface of the water below thy power plant under discussion.

My invention is an improvement over the existing suggested methods of increasing the head on water wheels. These existing methods contemplate using a portion of the stream flow which does not pass through the v) runner for the urpose of exhausting from the draft tube t at portion of water which does pass through the runner, and delivering into a higher level tail water. These suggested methods depend uponthe water e'ector which has a ver low efiiciency. he best etliciency which have been able to obmm from actual tests is about 10%, and although familiar with tlieart, I have not seen the results of any tests which show greater efiiciency. These methods, on account of their low efliciency, usein the ejector many times the-'quantit of water flowing through the turbine, w ereas in my invention I am using only a portion of the energy of the water which passes through the runner. -In power plants where'water is not valuableythe amount of machinery to handle the quantity' required by the other suggested forms of increasers necessitates such large passages for handling, this water that the cost is excessive. i

The power developed by a given turbine varies as the three-halves ower of the head and the speed varies as t a square root of the head, so that in doubling the head on a given turbine we are able to obtain from it when o crating at best efiiciency nearly three times t 0 power at the greater head than it willgive at thesmaller and the speed for best efliciency at the higher head will be about 40% ater than its speed at best anciency for t e lower head. From this it will be seen that in agiven installation with my head increaser maintaihin double the head on'the turbine, the cost 0 thewater Wheel machinen will -be less per horse power What it would 7 e in the former case. [be cost of generators varies approximately inversely as their specd so that by the use of the head 'increaser the cost of the hydro-electric machinery may be eatly reduced and this will permit the deve opment of a great many low falls.

the rise in the head water.

crease the effective head actin on the wheel.

In order to maintain this whirling body of water I may utilize a head incrcaser such as heret (1rd referred to.

Given design for maximum eiiiciency for'the n We] ornormal fall, it is important 1 to maintaiirthe greatest power under low fall." To obtain the greater power under low fall I propose to use my head increaser located between the water-wheel and tail race. In the design for maximum efii'ciency the water passages of the'runner and guide vanes and also the speed of the runner are so related that there is minimum whirl in the draft chamber. Under this condition a minimum of energy is allowed to escape from the runner and consequently the head increaser is not called upon to transform any greatamount of kinetic energy into poten tial energy, so that the loss in the head increaser is a negligible amount. Under this condition the ead increaser is acting as. draft tube with even better efficiency than the usual draft tube. I

When, however, the fall is reduced, the speed of the'rrmner m ustbe maintained norin a1 and the fall is not' eat enough to cause flow encu h through t e runner to give radial outow, consequently there 13 now whirl and excess energy in the draft chamher. The head increaser will now transform this kinetic energyinto potential energy and maintain a greater head on the turbine. This increased head causes increased flow through therunner with less whirl until the tamed.

increase of head and decrease of whirl reachesa balance. This increased head with an "efficient head inc'reaser, increases the power of the turbine, so that there is ob tained by m method a greater power in times offioo than has heretofore been ob- It is obvious that this whirl'ma be generated and maintained by" the use 0 primary water from the head race. I do not consider this a desirable construction or method I of operation as the total energy of such Water would be lost in the process ofin creasing the head, ,none of the energy being "llthilzed in the wafer wheel.

. paratus by hich my method maybe i carried out is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a transverse section through a water wheel and head ncreaser, and, I

Fig. 2 is a plan view 0 the head-increaser,

parts being broken away to show the construction clearly.

shown a water wheel 10, and guide vanes 11, controlling the entrance of water to the wheel. Power is taken from. the wheel by means of the shaft 12, directly connected to a generator not shown. The water is suplied to the wheel through a-conduit 14, and 1S discharged therefrom through the water discharge passage 30 in the usual or well known manner.

In carrying out my invention, I employ a suitable space or chamber lfi below the water wheel, and I lace therein a substantially horizontal de ector wall or partition 17 supported in any suitable manner, say for instance, upon piers 17.v Preferably this deflector is circular in shape, as well shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings, and its outer pe riPhery terminates short of the upright walls 0 the chamber 16 so as to define an annular dischar e passage for the water which asses t rough te space or conduit 18 dened by the deflector'fl and the to wall of the chamber '16. Inasmuch as t e water discharging through the discharge passage 30 enters t e space orconduit 18 at the center thereof and then flows radially in all directions through the conduit, it is apparent that this conduit 18 is of progressively increasin "ca acity from its center radially outwa to tie periphery of the deflector 17. This increase in capacity of the conduit 18 maybe furtherincreased by hav ing the walls of the conduit diverge outward. For instance, in Fig. 1, the'top wall of the chamber 16 is substantially horizon tal, while the deflector or partition 17 'is conical in cross section; 6., the highest point of'the upper face'of the deflector 17 is charged or axial discharge water wheel is used, I mean a water wheel which is constructedso as to; cause the water to discharge therefrom in an approximatel axial direction; that is to say, substantial y parallel. to the axis of rotation of the wheel. One type of such form of wheel is shown in the accompanying drawings. In normal operation. accordii to the practice heretofore followed, an cient water would 'be allowed to flow through. the guide vanes 11, whereby the wheel would be operated most efficiently and under low heads this-would result in a low speed with a consequent large draft to e.

wheel at a much higher speed,

size of water wheel. At slow speed a slow speed generator would be required and such generators are very costly. I propose. however, to provide a higher speed generator, allowing a large quantity of water to pass through the runner; that isto say, a larger quantity of water than could be used for the most eticient operation of the water wheel. Thus it. follows that the watcl" wheel would be operated at a high speed and a proportion of energy would pass through the runner and be wasted in the tail water. However, I. propose to utilize this otherwise wasted energy by transforn'iing the velocity of thewater into pressure, whereby a much higher head is secured. This higher head in turn causes the operation of the water Although the construction shown in Fig. 3 is not preferable it will be described in order that the specific method referred to may be clearly' understood. In such construction 1 provide a water wheel 19, having guide vanes 20. The level. of the water in the head race is indicated at 21, and the level of the water in the tail race at 22. It will be noted that the bottom of the water wheel runner is considerably beneath the level of the water in the tail race. Beneath the water wheel I provide a colwave'del'leo tor 23, whereby a space 2-1:, of progressively increasing capacity is maintained thereahove, the outer edge of the deflector rising to a point near the evel of the water In the tail race. By maintaining a whirl in the water discharged from the water wheel, the centrifugal force of the whirling water causes a vortex or area of low pressure at a point beneath the water wheel, this centrifugal action forcing the water to the' higher levelnecessary to diseh'ar it Into the tail race.- I n this manner I m enabled to maintain an effective head on the Water wheel equal to the distance from the top of the head water to the bottom oithc water wheel, this distance being greater than the distance. from the top of the head water to the top of the tail watt-2r.- This cohstruction thus described is illustrative only, the actual desirable construction being shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The same principle of o eration is utilized ,althou h in such cast tie bottom of the water wlieel is substantially on a level with thewvater in the tail race. The increased, effective head is secured by maintaining a draft or suction beneath the water wheel wherebythe same effeet is secured.

Obviously much the sameiesult might be secured by providing different or modified regainin r or head increasing means in the -N.ei,ther would it be IIDPDSSLblB to carry out mymethod by locating a. well designed draft. tube at the base of the tul's water through the wheel hinc. My method is not limited therefore to any particular apparatus used in carrying it out.

I claim:

1. The method of operating water wheels which consists in passing an amount of water through a wheel in excess of the amount required for the maximum efliciency of the wheel under the available fall, and utilizing said excess water to produce an additional head acting on the water wheel.

2. The method of operating water wheels which consists in passing an amount of water, through a wheel in excess of the amount required for the maximum eflicienc ot' the wheel under the arailablejall, lea

ing the discharge water in a'direction 9.

proximately radial from the point of discharge. and utilizing said excess water to produce an additional head acting on the water wheel.

3. The method of operating water wheels which consists in passingan amount of water through a wheel In excess of the amount required for the maximum efiicienc of thewheel under the available fall, lea

ing the discharge water in all directions apqu-oxiinately radial from the point of disrharge. and utilizing said excess water to produce an additional head acting on'the water wheel. 7

4. The method of operating water Wheels which consists in passin water through a wheel, leading the discharge water in adirection approximately 'radial from the point of the discharge, and permitting said water. to expand durin its radial discharge. 7

5. The method of operating water wheels which consists in passing; water throu h a wheel, leading the discharge water in a directions approximately radial. from the point of the discharge, and permitti said water to expand. during its radial disc 'arge. 6. The method of operating a; water wheel which consists in passin an amount of iy reason of excess speed in excess of the amount required for maximum eliicicncy-of the wheel under the available head, and utilizing the increased whirlingyelocity of the water product-d by the employment of an excess' amount of water due tocxcessspeed to providexen effective head greater than theeffecti head of said maximum efficiency operation of the wheel.

7. he method of operating a. water wheel whicl consists in passing an amount of water tirough the wheel in excess of the amount required for maximum efliciency of the' wheel under theavailable fall, and ermitting the discharged water to expan in a. substantially radially extending-progressivel increasing 5 e to produce an efi'ejctive cad greater '1; 1i the'efiectiv'e headcf said maximum efficiency, substantially as described.

8. The method of increasing the effective head of waterior utilization -in water wheels, consisting in changinfg the kinetic energy'in water discharge rem a water wheel runner with a large tangential component into otential energy by passing the same thro'ug a passageof increasing capacity concentric with and expandln radially outward directly from the disc arge of the. runner whereby the potential ener at the end of the mags is increased, su

- stantially as descri a. progressively increasin W -i wheelie -{whit cons sta n passing through 9. The method of operating a water wheel, consisting in running' said wheel at a speed in excess ofthat at which the wheel should be run to give its maximum efliciency atthe head of water acting thereon, and due to such an excess in speed deliyering to the shaft of said wheel onl aportion of the energy of'the water which would be delivered thereto by running the wheel at the s eed of said maximum efliciency, changing the direction of [low of the dischar ed water from axial to substantially ra la] and utilizing the remaining ener of the water after passing through the w ieel to'produce in part the eil'ective head of water acting on the wheel; substantially as described.

10. The method :of operating a water wheel, consisting in running said wheel at aspeed in excess of that at which the wheel should be run to give its maximum efficiency at the head of Water acting thereon, and due to such excess in speed delivering to said- Water wheel only a portion of the energy of the water which would be delivered thereto passing throu h the wheel into potential energy to pr ucc in part the eflective head of water acting on the'fwheel, substantially as described. v a

11. The method of increasing the elfective head of water for utilization for water wheels, which consists in passing through -the wheel an amount of water iii-excess of that required to produce (an energy corre -:sponding. to the maximum eiiiciency of the wheel under the available fall, regaining'the excess energy by transforming the discharge velocity of the water into pressure head by permitting lZhE' Wflll8!' to expand in s ace extending substantially radially in al irections from theaxis of said runner, substantially as described. i

The inethod of increasing the effective o r utilization "for. water the wheel anamount of water in excess of that required to produce an energy corresponding to the maximum eiliciency of the wheel, regaining the excess energy by transforming the dischar' e velocity of the water into pressure head, t e velocity being trans formed into pressure by pern'litting substantially radial flow of the water in all directions in a progressively increasing space, substantially as described.

'13. The method of operating axial dischar e water wheels which consists in uti |izing t is energy of whirlin discharged water to produce an added hea ter wheel.

14. The method of securing an increased effective head on an axial discharge water wheel,-whi'ch consists in utilizing for such urpose the centrifugal f ee of a whirling ody of water at tl'ie-dl sch'itrge oi the water wheel, substantially as'describcd.

15. The method of increasing the effective head on an axial discharge water wheel, which consists in operating the wheel-runner'at such a speed that a portion of the cnergy of the head is absorbed in producing a whirling motion in the discharged water, and utilizing the cher y of such whirling water to increase the e ective head acting on the wheel, substantially as described.

'16.. The method of increasing the effective head on an axial discharge water wheel, consisting in operating the wheehrunner at such a speed that a portion of the energy of the head is absorbed in producing a whirling fnotion in the discharged water, and ut lizing the centrifugal force of such whirl ing discharged water to increase the effective head acting on the wheel, substantially as described, I

17. The method of increasing the effective head on an axial discharge water wheel, consisting in maintaining a whirling body of water at the discharge of the water wheel, by discharging whirling Water from the runner ofthe wheel into said body and utilizing the centrifugal force of such whirling "-head on an axial. discharge water wheel,

which consists in maintaining a vortex at the discharge of the wheel by delivering into aid'rartez tl gwat nr the i er with acting on the waa large tangential component, and utilizing the energy of said water having a large tangential (imi'ipunent' tn increase the effective head acting on the wheel, substantially as described.

20. The method of increasing the effective head on an axial discharge water wheel,

which consists in nmintalning a vortex at the discharge of a water wheel by changing the course 01 the disehzu' e water from the runner from axial to sulistantially radial,

from the runner with alarge ta and discharging into said vortex the water ntial component and utilizing said water eving a large ta-n ential compcnent to increase 15 the effective iiead acting on the wheel, sub stantially as described.

WILLIAM M. WHITE.

Witnesses:

CHAS. F.. MURRAY, '1. D. BUTLER.

Corrections in Letters Patent No. 1 273,558.

It isheroby certifiod'that in Letters Paton t No. 1,273,558, granted July 23, 1918, upon the application of William M. Whit, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for an imi pruvement in "Methods of Increasing Head," errors appears in the printed specification requiring correction as follows: Page 1, line .28, after the word "turbine" insvrt the words at maximum qfiicimwy; same page, linos 35-36, stlrike out, the words L :11 maximum cilicioncy"; and that, the said Letters Patent should be read with I tho- 1 corrections therein that the some may conform to the record of tho case in the Patent. Oflioe. l Signed and sooled this 27th day of August, A. D., 1918i mo F. W. H. emf,

Acting Commissioner of Patents. Cl. 253 --l 22'. i 

